PHILADELPHIA—In a baseball stadium, the New York Rangers did their best to channel Nuke LaLoosh. They announced their presence with authority.

While rallying from a two-goal deficit to beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2, in Monday’s Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park, the Blueshirts showed exactly why they have risen to first place in the Eastern Conference, and why they are a serious contender to win their first Stanley Cup since 1994.

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“We have some talent, but we’re not the most gifted team, and we have developed an identity,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “They have to accept the responsibility, because they have developed this on their own, that identity. That is the way we have to play, and that’s a big reason why we find our way tonight.”

The identity that the Rangers have developed is as a physical, hard-working team with scoring depth and world-class goaltending—in other words, exactly the blueprint that the Boston Bruins used to win the Stanley Cup in 2011.

On Monday, it was on full display. The Rangers outhit the Flyers, 50-41. New York blocked 20 shots to Philadelphia’s eight. The goals came from Mike Rupp, who scored a pair after opening his first season as a Ranger with one in 14 games, and Brad Richards, whose 14th of the season was his sixth game-winner. Throw in 34 saves by Henrik Lundqvist, including a penalty-shot stop on Danny Briere with 19.6 seconds left, and it was a trademark Rangers victory in 2011-12.

The game was precipitously close to spinning out of control for New York when Claude Giroux beat Lundqvist on a backhand with 5:39 left in the second period—Philadelphia’s second goal in 1:55. Rupp’s rip from the slot to convert a Brandon Prust pass 30 seconds later flipped the momentum.

“That was the TSN turning point there, I think,” said defenseman Dan Girardi, who led the Rangers with four blocked shots in a game-high 28:35 on the ice. “Obviously, a two-goal lead, we’ve watched the (Winter Classic) games in the past, there’s not a lot of goals scored and it’s hard to come back. For him to score that goal right away, it’s a big energy boost for us, coming into the third period only down one instead of two.”

After Rupp’s goal 2:41 into the final frame, off another Prust pass, got the Rangers even, it took only another 2:40 for Richards to bang home a rebound after back-to-back stops by Sergei Bobrovsky on Brandon Dubinsky, whom Tortorella had moved up to Richards’ line with Ryan Callahan in the middle of the game, in place of speedy rookie Carl Hagelin.

It has not been an easy season for Dubinsky, the first of a four-year, $16.8 million contract he signed over the summer as a restricted free agent. But while the 25-year-old has only four goals to his credit, he now has 15 assists – halfway to the career high of 30 he set last season—and has done everything else the Rangers have asked of him. Monday, he delivered 10 hits a blocked shot and a takeaway to go with the assist on Richards’ goal.

“That’s a big reason we put (that line) together, just to grind,” Tortorella said. “I don’t think Richie’s line was playing well with him, Haggs and Cally. I thought Dubi was really good offensively. He struggled defensively on the boards in the second period, but offensively he was finishing his checks, holding onto the pucks. That’s the way we have to play.”

The Rangers also have to rely on Lundqvist—or, on the nights that he is allowed to rest, a backup goaltender in Martin Biron who is either the best in the league or second only to Boston’s Tuukka Rask, depending who you ask. The Winter Classic was never going to be a game for anyone but Lundqvist, though, even if the Flyers had their own goaltending controversy when Bobrovsky got the start over $51 million man Ilya Bryzgalov.

As the Rangers protected their lead, Lundqvist had his signature moment, closing the five hole to deny Briere on a penalty shot that Tortorella suggested was called for the benefit of the Winter Classic television audience. The Flyers did not get another shot on goal, and lost to the Rangers for the third time in as many meetings this season.

“We talked about trying to get to (Lundqvist) with more traffic, and we’ll continue to work on it,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It wasn’t that our guys didn’t compete. … They’re an opponent that is, I think, somebody that we’ll have to deal with in the future.”

Laviolette did not mean the three remaining regular-season games between the Atlantic Division rivals. The Rangers showed in the Winter Classic that they are a team built for the spring.